Tautening mechanism for upholstery bands



Aug. 13,1929; w. J. DILLON TAUTENINGMECHANISM FOR UPHOLSTERY BANDS 2Sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. 12, 1926 II II 1 [18 7012 T ZiZZz'am J EH05,

Aug. 13, 1929. w. J. DILLON TAUTENING MECHANISM FOR UPHOLSTERY B ANDSFiled Nov. 12, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w n n WILLIAM". J. DIIIIAUN; 0FGRAND RAPIDS, ItEICHIGAN.

TAUTENING- Ii'lECl'lldlll'IST/l FUR 'UIBI'IULSTERY BANDS.

Application filed November 12, 1926.

The present invention relates to tautening' means, particularly such asmay be employed for tautening furi'iiture upholstery and its object isto provide improved mechanism for tautening such bands while beingsecured to articles of furniture and the like.

This and any further or more specilic objects hereinafter appearing areattained by, and the invei'ition finds preierable embodiment in, themechanism here. jiafter particularly described in thebody of tl'iis s;)ecilication. and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a front view of mechanism for tautening theupholstery-s1lpporting bands of such articles of furniture as davenportlounges and the like, while such bands are being seemed to the furnitureframe;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of said mechanism and of a davenportloungeframe and a stool supporting the same, taken on vertical planescorresponding to line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a top plan view of guides for the sliding movement of thetautened bands, and of adjacent parts of the mechanism.

Considerable diliiculty is found. in tautening and holding taut theflexible bands or strips of webbing or the like employed to support theupholstery, cushions, etc. of such articles of furniture asdaveuport-lounges or other seats, and in thus tautening a plurality ofsuch bands uniformly in relation to each other. llt is the objectof thepresent invention to obviate such difficulty.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated by the drawings,tautening mecha ism is shown comprising a frame, comprising severaldetachably connected units, each. of which may embrace a plurality(three in the construction illustrated) of band-tautening means. In saidembodiment, the frame coinprises upright members '1 joined by horizontalrods 2, 3, 42 extending through openings 5 in the uprights anddetachably held therein by set screws 6. lilach of the several units(two of which are shown in Figure 1) thus connected comprise a pair ofthe lat orally spaced uprights 1, one of which as shown in Figure 1 maybe common to two such adjoining connected units.

Each such unit comprises one or more (three in the constructionillustrated) tautening means, and has a shaft 8 rockably mounted. inbearings 9 on the frames up ri liits, one such. shaft answei" alltautening or each unit.-

bands;

Serial No. 148.091.

has means for detachably engaging the work, i, e., the several bands '4'of webbing or the like Ql'llplOyOtl to support furniture upholstery, andto tauteu such hands during the process of securing the same on theframe of a lounge 10 or other article of furniture. Such engaging means,as illustrated, are the pointed spurs 12 extending radially from saidshaft and adapted to pierce the bands 7 passing over the shaft. in thistautening operation, the free ends 13 of the bands are nailed if!otherwise secured to the rear horizontal rail letof the lounge, and thebands are then engaged by the spurs 12, whereupon the shaft 8 is rockedcounterclockwise (see Figure thus tautening all the bands simultaneouslyand uniformly. The bands are now secured to the front horizontal rail 16of the lounge as by nails 1?. The secured lengths of the bands are nowsevered from the rest of the band strips and the outer ends of thesecured lengths may be doubled back and nailed down in the same manneras are their inner ends 13 secured to the rear rail 14-. .lln this o)eration of tautening and secur ing the bands to the frame of thelounge, the lounge may be supported on a suitable bench 18, the uprights1 resting on the floor l9, and abutting at their rear sides on the frameof the lounge. The free ends of the hands being secured at 1.3 on therear rail 14, equal weights 3? may be hung on. the bands to tension thesame uniformly before being ongaged by the spurs 12. The shaft 8 is nowrocked to tauten the bands to the degree required in the finishedproduct by suitable means. Such means may manifestly be of various formsor types; in the illustrated construction these means comprise a crankarm 20 carried by the shaft, a pedal lever 21 fulcrumed at 22 on one ofthe uprights and a link 23 connectin this lever with said crank, a pring24': serving to rock the shaft back to initial position for a subsequentoperation. "tolls of the band strips are shown carried by supports, thesemi-circular boxes 26, held on the rods 3, at, and having sides 27holdii'lg the rolls in operative alignment with the hand engaging spurs12 carried by the shaft 8. It will be seen that the free ends 13 of therolls of band strips are passed up wardly and over the shaft 8 and arethen drawn far enough to be secured to the lounges rear rail 14L, pedallever 21 being rcleas d so that the spurs 12 are turned in- 1] far to hel l being-r portions 29, so that the spurs may pass there-- through inthe rocking movements of the shaft.

In order to adapt the mechanism to furniture articles of differentshapes or front contour, 'abutments adapted to rest on the front of sucharticles are provided in the form of eccentric members 32 mountedturnably at 83 i on the uprights 1, and adapted to be turned topositions in which they may be fixed by set screws 34; and to preventmarring such articles the abutting edges of these'eccen'trics arefurnished with pads 35 i of soft. material. The shafts flanges 38 serveto guide the bands and hold the same against edgewise movement. It ismanifest that this mechanism or some detached unit or single memberthereof may be employed for tautening bands lengthwise of the lounge, orthe bands of some smaller article of furniture as a chair or other seat.

The invention being intended to be pointed out in the claims, is not tobe limited to or by details of construction of the particular embodimentthereof illustrated by the drawings or hereinbefore described:

hat is claimed is:

1. In tautening mechanism of the character described: a frame; a shaftrockahly mounted thereon and. having means for detachably engaging thework; means whereby the shaft may be rocked and releasably held inrocked position; an eccentric abalment mounted on the frame turnably tofixed positions.

2. In a structure of the character described: a frame comprising enduprights and an intermediate upright, dehn-hahly connected spacedly sideby side: shafts reekably mounted on the end uprights respectively androckably mounted detaehahly on the intermediate upright, each shaft haring means for detachably engaging the work; means whereby the shaftsmay be rocked and releasably held in rocked. position.

3. In tautening mechanism of the character described: a frame; a shaftrockably mounted thereon and having spurs adapted to piercingly engagethe work; means whereby the shaft may be rocked and releasably held inrocked position; a guide on the frame for the work adapted to slidablyhold the work in spur-engaging position and having openings throughwhich the points of the spurs projecting through the work are adapted topass in the rocking movement of the shaft.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Grand Rapids,Michigan, this 3rd day of November, 1926.

\VILLIAM J. DILLON.

